Chapter 535 - Do you know, there''s no escaping from Brave?


    "Ester, it''s finally time to debut with your new equipment."


    "Yes, finally! The first spear of


    <Eden>, here I go. —?Spear Drive?!"


    <Eden>


    "Gahhh!?"


    "A new yer?!"


    "More importantly, what kind of equipment are even these?!"


    “So cool…”


    Equipped with ?Chariot? equipment—?Azure Cogwheel?, Ester blitz in a straight line, routing any unfortunate student that was on her path.


    A number of astonishing gazes gathered on her but...... Eh, do they think they have enough leeway to slow down on action? Hey, hey, Ester isn''t the only one to pay attention though?


    "My turn-desu! —?Poison Shuriken?!"


    "Huh? Aaahh—-!? I was stabbed?! A shuriken stabbed me??"


    "Rx, just because you''re stabbed doesn''t mean you''re stabbed!"


    "Here Ie. —?Sonic Sword?!"


    "Gaahhh!"


    As Pam alsounched the long-distance attack, I joined in following after her, and managed to bring down one of the ss-2 members.


    "Stay vignt! ss-1 hase to attack! Group 1, do not let <Best of the Best, the Great Star> advance! Everyone else, follow after me! We need to crush them swiftly!"


    Sedan dispatched a part of their force toward <Best of the Best, the Great Star> beforeing to face us.


    He was quick in his judgement. After all, the danger would continue to hang around their neck like an albatross if they don''t keep us in check.


    "Brave, you must be the leader of ss-1, right? Then just fine, your fall should also copse themand of ss-1!"


    "I expected no less from the leader of ss-2. You''re right, the ss-1 may fall into chaos by taking us. But, that''s only a ''what if'' story."


    "You''re right, but we''re no longer in the position to dilly-dally! Everyone, push forward all at once!”


    He has guts. There were a total of seven students from ss-2. Hmm, that felt quite few...... or maybe not?


    I mean, our forceprised 9 members—or 8 now, counting Saturn out. They clearly were losing even in numbers. And given that barricade had already been destroyed, he was witty to target me to bring chaos.


    "Prepare yourself, Brave! ?Blitz Knuckle?!"


    "Not before me. ?Counter?!"


    Sedan momentarily hurled a punch in my direction, but Rika inserted herself in the path and calmly faced it. ng, a dull sound echoed, akin to two metallic things colliding,


    "What!?"


    "Sedan, was it? Well, the words right back at you. Your ss will have no hope if you''re also not there to unify them, no? As for being your opponent, no one said only I can be your opponent."


    "Kuh! ?Ducking?!"


    "You’re not going anywhere, ?Parallel sh?!"


    Sedan ducked in an attempt to trick Rika and breach the line-up, s it would need more than just that to throw out our master tank Rika.


    Indeed, if Sedan could take me down, it would reduce ss-1''s momentum and favour ss-2... probably. But—I had no way to know their line-up—I dare say Sedan was the only one who could hold me down.


    In that case, if our ss swiftly dealt with him, the momentum would blow in our favour. And much in disappointment for ss-2, our ss had many more members than just me to hold him down.


    "Tsk, then I will send you flying then! —?Power Pro Ultra Knuckle?!"


    "A charged attack won''t work on me! —?Deflect?!"


    "Impossible! Y-You offset the attack?!!"


    "You learn one or two things like that when facing bosses frequently, eh. ?Cross sh?!"


    "?Cross Arm Guard?! —?Cross Counter?!"


    "?Parry?! —?Swallow Flip?!"


    "Gaaahhh!?"


    The knuckle with a powerful blowback effect, which required charging, came at Rika, but shepletely defended against it.


    The sh of sword and fist sent sparks flying, pushing Sedan backward in the aftermath. Rika immediately jumped in to take the advantage.


    Sedan crossed his arms to guard from the iing strike, and swiftly after, moved in for a counter-attack. However Karua easily deflected with the sword on her left hand, and performed her own counter with ?Swallow Flip? with right-hand sword. Sedan, having his stance broken, couldn''t conjure a guard in time, and took the attack head-on.


    That was our great defender for you. She easily gained an upper hand against Sedan.


    "Tsk, then let''s see if you can handle constant barrage! —?Triple Bash and Flick?!"


    "Haa, I already have devised methods to counter constant barrage. —?Triple Meosh?!"


    "Meosh??!"


    ng-ng-nd & Meow-Meow-Meow!


    Rika calmly parried all the fist bash and kick flick of Sedan with an unhurried, calm gestures. Her moves were graceful, and streamlined. Though I wasn''t sure if I was getting it right, it felt as if...cat''s purr were mixed among them?


    Sedan wore an incredulous expression; but I couldn''t confirm if it was because he hadn''t expected to be knocked back by Rika, or there was some other underlying reason.


    Regardless, with the ?Epic Sword - Cat Bell Flower? in her possession, Rika had attained yet again another height. As much as an excellent defender she was, her weakness had always been multi-hit attacks or simr, however the sword of her own now granted her the same privilege. The effect was clear to eyes, it was akin to giving a tiger wings.


    Affirming Rika would''ve no problem keeping Sedan in check, I gave mymands to other teammates.


    "Rika and I will hold themand here! Ester, Pam and ?Best of the Best, the Great Star? are to march at ss-2!"


    We''d already breached the defensive line, now not getting the pie that was just before us would be an epic act of foolishness. And most of all, I believe Rika, I and Misato—she was still outside of the barricade—could easily suppress the seven opponents here.


    "! Roger!"


    "Leave it to us-desu!"


    "Fufu, then so be it, we hand over this ce to you, Zephyr. We will make sure to topple this castle."


    "Right, just wait for the souvenir! We will be done in a sh!"


    "Now, do not get ahead of this Venerable! I will show you how one takes down an opponent''s fortress!"


    "Wha—where are you going?!"


    The members I pointed out ignored present ss-2''s students and galloped in the direction of their base. Many tried to chase after them of course, but—


    "Whoa there, how about you first get through me?"


    I circled and stood in the path of pursuers.


    I wonder if they know—there''s no escaping from the grasp of Brave.


    Excluding Sedan, the remaining six members of ss-2 showed a stunned expression for a moment, but then swiftly set me as target and swooped at me.


    "Our otherrades are still in the base to defend! Leave the rest to them, and give your all to take down the Brave here!"


    " " " "Yes, sir!" " " "


    Ahh, Ipletely forgot. ss-2''s target was me, right.


    Still, it was wild that I had jammed myself in their way to stop them from pursuing, but now it was me who had been caught in siege. You never know what the world has in its bag for you. Truly mysterious.


    "It''s the leader of ss-1 we''re facing, alright!? Use the number advantage to press him down! Let''s gooo!"


    "Yahoo, what a delicious opportunity!"


    "We will have the upper hand once we take him down!"


    "Oh my, that''s quite an entourage for me huh~."


    The six students stood in front of me—or not, they lunged at me. Their strategy was to somehow use a strong arm method to pin me down. Oh, there was also that paper-fan girl among the attackers.


    Seeing as how they’re so fervently looking at me… maybe I was actually popr? Ahaha.


    "Ho-ho, so you''re sure you can afford to focus on me rather than your base, eh? Interesting, alright. Come at me."


    "I know you can do it, everyone! Just follow the n of Sedan, and you''re good to go! Victory is in our bag once we take down the ss-1''s leader!"


    "Let''s goooo!"


    "Quite a good n, I must say. Albeit a pity that my stats are just out of leaguepared to all of you. It''s like shing against a steel sword with a wooden sword!"


    I swiftly used my agility to weave my way across their attacks.


    "H-Holy, what the heck is with that speed?!"


    While I was third In the leaderboard of our guild when ites to agility, it had already crossed the mark of 460 attribute value.


    Confided within the base jobs, agility had to be their forte if they wished to chase me.


    "I got it! ?Magic Spear - Power Shot?!"


    "Woah, a ?Magi Lancer?? You''re close, but speed alone is not everything—?Sonic Sword?!"


    As I dashed around in the field, utilising the mechanics behind the skills, a ?Magi Lancer? crept closer to me. However his efforts were futile. Agility was important just to chase me, but it wasn''t enough to shoot me down.


    I nimbly dodged the attack, and immediately turned around on my heels, shing at the ?Magi Lancer?.


    "Huh, disap—gaahh!?"


    Since no one was my rival in agility, I took it easy and dealt with them one by one.


    "Defense is often the achilles heel when one''s forte lies in AGI and STR—beside the exception that is ?Brave?. Now take it, ?Lightning sh?!"


    "Ababababaaaaa?!"


    The two consecutive attacks of mine, ?Sonic Sword? & ?Lightning sh?, struck the male student head-on, immediately plummeting his HP to 0. Immediately, a magic circle meant for teleportation appeared beneath his feet. Unsurprising. This was the gulf between us after all.


    "R-Ridiculous!!"


    "No way, how can he be so easily...?!"


    The result had stirred ss-2. The sudden departure of theirrade had caused them to pause on their steps. It opened many holes in their defense. I held up my sword and small shield and rushed toward the single target I had decided on.


    "You there, thanks for being wide open!"


    "Ahh, he''s now attacking here!"


    "Put on your guard!"


    "Haaa, ?Bone Guard?!"


    With a panicked expression, Swordsman, the student I had targeted, hoisted up the bone shield and intoned his defence skill.


    But, he had been too hasty in invoking the skill.


    Meanwhile, I still had to activate any skill. I dashed and moved in an arcle, slipping behind his back. Swordsman-kun''s defense was wide open, more so because the intonation of skill had put him in a gged'' state.


    "Ack, crap!"


    "Next time, learn how to activate skills efficiently. ?Brave sh?!"


    "Gaaahhhh!"


    "And the bonus ?Quick Strike?!"


    "Aaah!? ——!?"


    And like this, one more person was deported. This time, my opponent lost due to the blunder in skill activation. This was the typical thing to happen when you activate defensive skill while there were pursuers behind. Well, then again, it wasn''t exactly normal to lunge when the opponent was activating defence skill.


    You either slip behind the enemy''s back, or wait for the defence skill''s duration toe to an end and then shoot forward immediately. In case of taking a backshot, it was possible to at least m two attacks on the opponent.


    After taking down Swordsman-kun, I moved to my next target. He was a magician-ish boy.


    "Stay awaaayyy!! ?Icicle Javelin?!"


    Seeing as my gaze had been focused on him, the boy panicked and shot forth three ice spears in my direction but... their trajectory was too straightforward. Uh-huh, who goes throwing as much as three spears but without feint? What a waste.


    I sidestepped, evading the iing strike, and then blitzed in his direction, swinging down my sword.


    "—?Holy Sword?!"


    "Gyyaaahhh!"


    Mages were never the defensive type after all. He was done in just a strike from my fourth order ?Holy Sword? skill.


    "You kidding me, a single attack took him down?!"


    "Is this the rumoured strength of Brave?! It''s too much!"


    Well, it wouldn''t have that impact if the opponent was also having an advanced job, but oh well. It actually feels great to one-shot the opponent.


    With three down, there were three more left to settle.


    "B-Both of you, get yourself together! Let''s do it together!"


    The shivering members of ss-2 straightened their act, and decided to huddle together seeing that it would be dangerous solo. It was... unfortunately a bad move. Much to their dismay, Brave forte wasn''t in closebat alone. —He was just an expert in magic as well.


    I pointed my sword at the vanguard of remaining members, and released my magic.


    "?Shine Lightning?! ?Lightning Burst?!"


    "Are you kidding me?! —?Metal Shield?! Gaggagaga!!"


    "Oi, Oi, what the heck! ?Robust Sword?! Abababab?!"


    They swiftly took a defensive measure, but they still couldn''t nullify the damagepletely, their HP plummeting by a good margin. One of them even tried to cut down the attack with ?Robust Sword?, but of course, that was a futile attempt.


    The broadde user, who had used ?Robust Sword? skill, had fallen out of his stance under my attack. I set my target to him, and beelined toward him.


    "?Sword Attribute - Fire?!"


    "Ahh, shit. We can''t make it in time!"


    "Behold the divine punishment of fire and lightning—?Vanquish Lightning?!"


    The broadde user appeared to have robust defense, consequently I switched to fourth order skill to not leave any room for survival.


    "Aaaahhhh! I-I can''t deal with this much damage. My HP is——"


    Momentarily, a dazzling effect spread around. An attack enchanted with two elements crashed toward the broadde user.


    It had happened too fast for him to catch up. Receiving the impact, everything went silent for a split second before a pir of lightning and blinding light descended upon him.


    The divine punishment had insantly reaped every bit of his HP, pushing him to be deported out of the arena.


    "Now, who''s the nex—huh?"


    I had turned my gaze toward the big shield user who had casted ?Metal Shield? earlier, but there wasn''t a single soul on that spot. After a moment of surprise, I looked in the direction of ss-2''s base and—found them.


    The shield user had his back in my direction while he desperately make out for a run.


    "Shit, holy shit, and he is just a first year?! Since when do we have monsters among ourselves! It''s a hopeless victory without Sedan. The damned Brave is far more dangerous—!"


    He seemed to have been muttering something, but those words came to an abrupt halt as a terrifying magical attack galloped toward him from behind. It was the fourth order skill ?Thunderbolt?, a perversely strong magic among the arsenal of ?Gloria Salvator?.


    "Sometimes, running away is necessary, but do you know? Once Brave sets his eyes, not even the abyss can stop him from chasing you?"


    With that, the 5th was down too.


    He had already received damage from my earlier attack, plus he seemed to have low magic resistance. An attack in an unguarded stance from behind easily reaped away the shield user''s HP. I stopped my pursuit and turned to face thest remaining opponent.


    Thest remaining member was the aforementioned paper-fan girl... though she wasn''t holding one right now, of course.


    "Geh, everyone''s done for! Sedan, let''s retreat. Let''s escape to our base first!"


    Paper-fan girl shouted. Well, obviously. What was the point of the defence line when everything was routed. It was a sensible idea to get away from here.


    It''s just that they should have made that decision.


    "Alright, just in time for my cooldown to be finished, Let this be the coup de grace—?Sonic Sword?!"


    I chased after the paper-fan girl as she fell behind, but a huge hammer suddenly cut in front the sideline and smashed down on me.


    My ?Intuition? red rms in my head, and momentarily activate ?Super-Reflex?.


    "?Demolition Hammer?!"


    "Woah there, so close!"


    I shifted the trajectory of my ?Sonic Sword? to target that hammer, but since it was an emergency manoeuvre, my attack couldn''t offset the momentumpletely and I was blown away. However I didn''t receive much damage with ?Super Reflex? at work.


    "Oh dear, you''re quite something."


    I backstepped, making sure my stance didn''t give away, and hurled my gaze in the direction of the assant.


    "—But you''re not moving anywhere."


    She was a young girl of the ''Bearkin'' category, carrying a huge hammer in her hands.


    She was the same girl who had been scolding the boys with ''Stupid, monkey brain'' remarks.


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